You’ll Never Have All the Answers

Sometimes we put things off, like our dreams, because we have no idea how we’re going to make them happen. We don’t want to take that first step until we know exactly how we’re going to get from Point A to Point B, and we’re not prepared to take a risk on doing something that might fail until we’re sure that it won’t. There are so many questions along that unknown path, and we’re just not prepared to start moving until we get some guarantees; until we get our answers.

But the thing is you’re never going to have all the answers; it just doesn’t happen that way. The answers, like the questions themselves, change as the path forms – as you create your path. You can’t have all the answers to something that hasn’t happened yet. And much as you’d like to, you can’t see the whole path laid out before you, because it doesn’t exist yet. You’re the one who creates it as you go. And really… where’s the adventure in knowing everything that’s going to happen before it happens? Where’s the fun in that?

Clichéd though it is, life really is about the journey. And the longer I work with this stuff, the less I believe that there even is a destination; I think perhaps the journey itself is the point of it all. Life is a process; an unfolding, like the petals of a flower; a becoming. And learning to understand and embrace this process is why we’re here. We are here to become all that we can be, and following our own paths is the only way to do that.

You have something special to offer the world. Your unique talent, your unique gift, your unique perspective. So what’s holding you back? You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be you. You just need to find your own way to share your own gifts with the world, in whatever way feels right for you. That’s why you’re here.

You’ll never have all the answers, but you don’t have to know all the answers right now. You just need to start moving in the direction of your dreams. The answers will come as they are needed.

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6 Comments

I wanted to thank you for such a timely post on a Monday morning. I found your post on LinkedIn and before beginning my day, needed some inspiration to charge forward with my job-seeking. Thanks again.

Hi Brian, and thanks for stopping by and commenting. Glad you enjoyed the post, and good luck with your job hunt! 🙂

A.
on August 18, 2014 at 7:33 pm

Can you imagine a life without dreams, Nathalie? One would be dead if that were the case, no? Dreams act as a fuel for life. Desire is like a spiritual fuel as well. With no dreams, one would be a zombie. I know people do not believe in dreams, but we have to. I know far too many zombies out there. At least I believe; that is half of the game.

I’m not sure it’s possible for there not to be dreams — I think they’re too much a part of who we are. We are the storytellers and the story itself. And our dreams are how the next chapters get built… choose your own adventure… you get to decide which way the adventure unfolds: the dream or the safety net.

I like the story of driving a car at night, can see more than a few hundred yards, and yet, we can travel hundreds of miles, avoid that deer, slow way down for the logging truck and properly follow the detour signage, none of which we know anything about when we start out.

Hello Joseph, and thanks for stopping by and commenting! Love the car analogy… I talk a lot about “baby steps” around here, and it’s the same sort of thing. The path unfolds as you go along — just because you can’t see the whole thing up front, doesn’t mean the road isn’t there. As long as we keep our intentions clear and keep moving towards those goals, we are making progress. 🙂